"Supporting" Our Troops?

Let me warn you now: this blog has been tagged with 'rant-n-rave,' so if you're not in the mood to hear a strongly worded opinion and a foul word or two, you might want to save this one until after you've had your morning Postum. I know, you are all incredibly shocked that I would wish to opine with pithy comments here, since it is rare that I feel strongly about anything, much less come out and say anything about it...

Let me set the stage for you: We've got hundreds of thousands of military troops, of both genders, who live for years at a time away from home. Some of these men and women are married, some are not. We as military spouses are instructed not to send pornographic material to our deployed personnel, even of ourselves to our own spouses. The majority of us observe this rule, even though the inhabitants of the countries we occupy and aid do not observe this rule themselves, but I digress. One brilliant thinker has decided to support every troop serving our nation by putting on lingerie and military garb or TA-50 and making a pin-up calendar to "boost morale." Thank God she was so considerate to remember all our female military personnel, who are dying to see her almost naked body and think happy thoughts all day long as a result of her patriotic endeavor! Awesome!! Click on the title of the blog to read the slanted and biased article posted on Military.com -- what a positive and inspirational story. Maybe it should make it onto KLOVE!

I've obviously got a few thoughts on this and other such related topics:

1. Quasi- and semi-nudity is against regulation to be sent to places "down range," if I'm not mistaken. (S4J, you probably still have that scanned page from when your husband deployed which stated this federal regulation.) I'm sure we want to boost morale of those serving away from home, so you've kind of shot yourself in your pretty airbrushed foot there, sweetheart. And Lord knows that there is a plethora of local establishments that specialize in boosting troop morale for a fee, so I highly doubt people are going to be interested in your form of patriotic expression when Bambi could "love you long time" for a small fee.
2. Why is it that seeing her nipples through mesh and lace boost troop morale? Personally speaking, I don't want to think about sex and things that make me remember the fact that I'm not getting any right now or any time soon. Tends to make my "situation" a little more unbearable, thanks. I don't understand why emphasizing this effect is desirable, but I guess I'm in the minority on this one, huh?
3. I know, as a woman, I don't want to see your hiney in my face, wearing any part of a uniform that you don't have the chutzpah to don yourself and go down range. The uniform of a soldier, airman, marine, etc., is sacred in my opinion and should not be used as a prop in a semi- or completely pornographic photo shoot. That should piss off anyone who gets paid to serve our country, especially female soldiers. Female soldiers (and given, there are lots of them who don't come CLOSE to being in this category) work hard to serve alongside men who many times don't see them as equal counterparts and would rather "hook up" with them than be caught in a foxhole with them. Women who choose to serve and can do it without being a Grade A hoochie are my heroes, and by posing in any part of a uniform, you've just taken all those generations of service and hard work, rolled them into a thong, and put them in your cute little behind. Thanks for that.
4. This Army spouse is sitting back on her heels, using the, "They're just jealous that they're overweight and don't have jobs," statement to make herself feel better about the controversy she's caused. No doubt most of the men think this is stupid and will probably never even see this dumb calendar. But their wives are standing up for what they think is right or wrong. It's pretty lame and unintelligent that she's using this excuse. She obviously doesn't know what it's like to try and keep a marriage together over the thousands of miles and years of deployment, take care of a family, put aside dreams and aspirations of her own so that she can put the needs of others before her own. I hope she enjoys her pre-baby, pre-stretch mark body while she can. I can't wait to hear what her self-centered perspective is a few years from now when she has unwittingly become one of those on the receiving end of her own criticism. (And apparently, the drama caused by all this is affecting her marriage. How sad.)
5. I agree, it's dumb that people are trying to have her kicked off post because of this. But I can tell you one thing: all actions have consequences. And if you live on post and you've done something to ostracize yourself, either because you took a stand or you were just plain stupid, it is what it is. That's just the nature of the beast. Don't come to the fight if you can't take some hits.
6. Personally, I have no problem with women doing this for their own husbands/boyfriends/whatever. Some of you will disagree here on the level of legal/religious committment necessary for this to be acceptable, and that's cool. My point is, especially if you're married, this is a one-to-one experience. You are doing this as a way to stay connected within your marriage. It is God's design for our relationships and our bodies to be physically and emotionally connected to one another, and I don't believe that, just because one of you is deployed, that the physical side of your relationship gets to be neglected. I believe, for me, that the line is crossed when this is mass-produced and widely distributed. That's when Hugh Hefner is usually involved, and that is taking your sexual energy and directing it at someone besides your spouse. In my book, that's where I draw the line. I realize that this opinion is WIDELY unpopular. I just know from my own personal experience that, if I put myself in a relationship or marriage situation where I have to compromise here, I am extremely unhappy. So for me, this rule works.

This is your opportunity to sound off -- put yourself out there and tell us what you think. Just keep in mind that we will not all agree, nor will we likely change anyone's mind on these kinds of matters. Just remember not to bloviate and keep it pithy -- what say you???